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### **SROs Collaborate to Enhance School and Student Life in a New Training Program**

August 2020 | Volume 13 | Issue 8

Primary learning  outcomes from the P5 program include the following:

**Module 1: Introduction to a Positive School Climate**
              - The four elements of a positive school climate: environment, relationships, engagement and safety

**Module 2. School Physical and Learning Environment**
              - How to change the environment to promote wellness and prevent crime 
              - Targeted interventions to meet students’ needs based on multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS)
              - Diverse cultures (national, family, community, peer) and student worldviews
              - Risk factors and strengths affecting student development and behavior
              - Negative/antisocial and positive/prosocial behavior and the needs that motivate it

**Module 3.  Engagement and Relationships**
              - Understanding the adolescent brain, risk factors and protective factors influencing youth behavior
              - Recognizing implicit biases to modify reactions and reduce microaggressions toward youths

**Module 4. Safety and Discipline**
              - Addressing the entire spectrum of safety, from promotion to restoration
              - De-escalation, restorative, and communication techniques to build positive relationships with students, school personnel and community 

School Resource Officers (SROs) are among the most visible police  in many communities and an everyday presence in the lives of their young  people. As a result, the impression an SRO makes on his or her students will be  an important one, not only on the teenagers as they grow into adults, but on  their teachers, families, and the community at large. 

 Moreover, the roles of SROs can go well beyond enforcement  and security to include mentoring, education, and problem solving. Through a  unique training program, they can work not only *in* the schools, but *with* them, to create a healthier and more positive educational environment.

#####  Preventing Problems  by Promoting Positive Practices

 Called *Preventing Problems  by Promoting Positive Practices* (P5) and funded by the COPS Office,  this new training course enables SROs, school security officers (SSOs), school  police officers (SPOs), teachers, counselors, school psychologists, and administrators  to collaborate in a holistic plan that can improve the school climate: environment,  relationships, engagement, and safety. 

##### **Training Available**Online**Through the COPS Office Training Portal and in the Classroom**

 The training  includes two parts: an introductory 60 min online course and a daylong class.

 The highly interactive online course, which is available  online through the COPS Office  Training Portal, covers introductory concepts and recommended practices for  improving the school climate and includes activities, real life scenarios, and  quizzes to enhance the learning process. IADLEST certification is available for completion of this course.

 There is also a daylong class which provides additional  training for school administrators or other stakeholders. Taught by a team that  includes a school/developmental psychologist and an SRO trainer, it is delivered  at the client site. But in accordance with COVID-19 safety precautions, a virtual  class is also available on a webinar platform. 

 Comprising four modules,  the P5 course offers practical training and an action plan for addressing the  critical concerns of schools, students, parents, and their communities:
          - Creating  safer schools and healthier students
          - Improving  the physical and learning environment
          - Building  positive relationships to engage youth
          - Reforming  school discipline to take a restorative justice approach

##### Positive Problem Solving to Address Critical Concerns

 The course builds on research-based concepts and incorporates best  practices for achieving participants’ school climate goals. SROs and educators  use the SARA problem-solving method – Scan, Analyze, Respond, and Assess. 

 In addition to  collaborative problem solving, SROs and educators explore their own mindsets,  biases, and beliefs related to student behavior.

Learn more about the SARA model in the COPS Office publication, *Community Policing Defined*.

#####  Creating Unique Partnerships for Holistic Action Plans

 Says training  developer Jennifer Panagopoulos, “What’s unique about this program is that it  is based on collaboration, creating a partnership with a shared vision and common  language, so that all stakeholders understand each other’s goals and problem  solve together.”  

 “We have combined  the education and psychology concepts that administrators, teachers, and counselors  know with the law enforcement strategies that SROs know to create a shared knowledge  base and process for building an action plan.”

 “SROs are trained to  address crime,” she notes, “but they can also promote positive behaviors and  relationships. All stakeholders must learn from each other to work for common  goals. P5 creates a clear way to do that.”

#####  Collaborating to Improve School Environment and Student  Lives

 Participants develop  a holistic action plan at the completion of their P5 training that can include  a wide variety of new practices. To build positive relationships, for instance,  SROs may start eating lunch with students and teachers or mentor students after  school.  

 To promote positive relationships,  SROs can lead and support diversity and inclusion campaigns that address  racism. They can also set up a tip line and a threat assessment team and be  employed in promoting the tip line to students. By role-modeling inclusive  behavior, and working with students to solve problems, they can make the school  environment more comfortable and conducive to learning for all students. 

#####  Understanding Underlying Issues to Prevent the  Bad and Promote the Good  

 The development of  new practices through collaboration in a P5 action plan is an important goal. Equally  important are the insights that the participants gain by working together, insights  that can improve understanding of student culture and adolescent psychology. 

 Empathetic SROs  become more likely to intervene on behalf of young people by helping address  root causes of bad behavior rather than involving the juvenile justice system  or becoming a school disciplinarian.  

#####  Training in Essential Skills for All SROs 

 To make a successful  transition from the streets to the school hallways, law enforcement officers  need to understand adolescent psychology and to be able to collaborate with and  learn from teachers, counselors, and school administrators. 

 Practices that  promote positive relationships, student strengths, and good social behavior  must also be part of every SRO’s toolkit. Through P5 training on the COPS  Office Training Portal and  in the classroom, all officers can acquire the additional knowledge and  insights they need to be valuable members of their school communities.

Faye Elkins          Sr. Technical Writer           

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